


Cut Through the Water

by inklingdeco



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Puns ahoy, Shapeshifting, friendship wins, shark head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9208199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inklingdeco/pseuds/inklingdeco
Summary: A fanfiction drabble request from MoofieLou, who wanted a story involving Maui shapeshifting to cheer Moana up!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoofieLou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoofieLou/gifts).



> This work comes from a trade between I and MoofieLou here on AO3. I haven't written anything in awhile, so please forgive me if I'm rusty!
> 
> Also, please note this was not intended as a Moana/Maui shipping story. They're just friends here! I appreciate if you don't read a romantic context into this.

If Maui had learned anything from watching Moana on her journey to becoming chief of her people, it was that the two of them had one thing drastically in common: when Moana and Maui were angry or upset, they did _not_ want to talk about it. 

Maui couldn't help but see himself in her as she sat along the shore of yet another island she helped find, throwing shells into the water and kicking up sand with her heels. She acted so much like he did when he was younger (okay, still did. Sometimes.) in that she wouldn't let anyone in when she was upset. Maui had heard a bit of a shouting match between her and her father earlier that afternoon; despite Moana's rising maturity, the father and daughter were still so alike they did still butt heads every now and then. 

Moana had stood up by the time Maui made his way over to her slowly, now kicking wads of brown kelp accumulated at the shore back into the water and mumbling to herself angrily. Maui stood a few feet away, putting his hands on his hips and watching her lob a few into the ocean as she ignored his presence. 

"You really think Ocean's okay with all that extra ruffage in 'em?" Maui spoke up, looking at her with a sly smile. "I'd think old Ocean spat it out for a _reason._ "

Moana shot Maui an annoyed glance, then went back to trying to lob a giant wad of kelp into the water, balling up her fists and swinging her leg wildly. She missed completely, falling onto her bottom with a bit of a scream as she almost went completely horizontal. Moana sat up, linking her toes together and squeezing them in pain as she rubbed her lower back, scrunching her eyes shut. 

Maui let out a soft chuckle as he went to go sit down next to her, shaking his head as he said, "Okay, okay, what's wrong, Curly." 

"There's. Nothing. Wrong," Moana replied hotly. "At least, there wouldn't be anything wrong if Dad realized his daughter has limits just like EVERYONE else!" 

"You? Limits? The girl who crossed the entire ocean has limits? That's news to me," Maui replied, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky. 

"Of course I do," Moana replied, arms around her knees and her indignant gaze cast toward the horizon. "But does Dad understand that? No! He puts all this responsibility on me, without ever asking if I can do it. He just assumes I can, _because the duties of a chief are much greater than anything I ever ask of you_ ," Moana continued, mimicking her father with a deep, exaggerated voice. 

Moana continued to keep her chin on her knees as Maui sat silently for a few moments. Turning, he sat up slightly to look at Moana as she continued to face profile to him. 

"You know, when I actually first got my hook, there were lots of other gods, some of the demi persuasion, who wanted to test me."

"Oh, are you going to parable at me again?" Moana said, an exasperated expression melting onto her face.

"You know you're going to get parabled at." 

Moana groaned, sinking her forehead onto her knees. With a smile, Maui continued,

"A group of men once challenged me to prove my worth by turning into every animal on the island, using my hook. I know, seems like easy stuff now, right? But at the time, I had only had my hook for a couple of decades. I hadn't mastered the thing yet." 

Moana tilted her head to the side slightly, one eye looking at Maui as he told the story. A quick glance down revealed Mini Maui, his tattoo, comically exaggerating the story by using his hook to turn into half-animals, popping into animal forms only to immediately pop back, and sometimes nothing happening at all. 

"But, of course, being the amazingly awesome demi-god I was, and still am, I did it flawlessly. On my first try. There wasn't an animal that didn't get the Maui treatment- I made a pretty handsome nene bird, if I do say so myself." 

Mini-Maui below him stopped his show to cross his arms and shake his head up at Maui, making Moana smile a little. Maui met Moana's eyes and looked down to his bicep, flexing it to shake Mini-Maui off his feet. 

Moana sighed and sat up, looking at Maui with a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

"So, you came over here to brag?"

"You know you limited me to one brag a day. And I already used it up this morning when I caught a bigger fish than you. Waaaay bigger. It had to b-"

"What's the point, then?" Moana asked, not waiting for Maui to hold out his hands to show how big the fish was (it got bigger every time he told the story, anyway.)

"The point is, I didn't think I could do what they asked me at all. I saw the way they all looked down at me, all...condescending, almost like they wanted me to fail. Like they knew it was a lot of pressure on me and wanted to laugh when I didn't get it. I don't think your Dad wants you to fail, but I get how it feels. To have all that pressure when you feel like you can't do it."

Moana glanced to the side momentarily, before returning her eyes to the horizon and putting her chin on her arms defiantly again.

Maui glanced down at his bicep, his tattoo counterpart looking right back up at him at the same time. Maui smirked and walked back to the treeline, not even prompting Moana to look up. She continued staring at the water silently, assuming Maui had given up and left, when she heard from behind her, 

"I'm sorry, Curly! Did my story really BOAR you to death?"

Moana turned around to see Maui transformed into a wild hog, still with that same eyebrow quirk and stupid smile on his face. She smiled, lowering her eyebrows and waving a hand at him. 

"Stooop," she said, turning back around and trying to ignore him. The sound of something plodding along on the sand came so quickly she didn't have time to turn before Maui appeared at her right side, this time as a seal.

"I guess that story didn't really...SEAL the deal for you." Moana tried not to laugh as Maui suddenly got a lot shorter, stepping onto her lap with, "Don't CHICKEN out on me, Moana! You're brave enough to withstand my jokes, aren't you?" Moana laughed, pushing him off and back to the side.

Moana snorted with laughter, urging, "Maui, I'm serious!" 

"I'm serious too," Maui said, transforming again right in front of her and sticking his new antler by her face, "This subject is very DEER to me." Moana stood up, laughing into her hand and swatting the axis deer's antler's away. She stood in the sand, laughing into her hands and accidentally letting her red and orange flower headdress slip over her eyes.

"Hey, Moana," Maui chimed. Moana lifted the flowers off her eyes, looking in front of her to see-

" _Shark Head_!" Maui said before Moana could speak, in his comical, sing-song tone. Moana snorted again, the crown completley falling off as she held her stomach. 

"Okay, okay, stop it!" she laughed, "You're ridiculous!"

Maui turned back into his regular self, smiling at Moana, hook in his hand. He walked over to her, putting the headdress back on neatly. 

"Whatever you do, you're going to be great. Look at those-" he said, turning and pointing to the canoes in the water. The villagers who had caught on the wayfinding faster were teaching others how to navigate the surf, the sunset piercing through the sails and making semi-opaque silhouettes against the orange sky. 

"Some of the boats can ride over the waves just fine. They wave up and down and go the natural way of the water. Some of them, however," he said, moving his hand and redirecting her gaze, "cut through the water. They don't go the natural way, they're making their own way and compromising with the water. They cut through, and it's harder, but the water always gives way. Even if it's not the normal path." Maui turned and smiled down at Moana. "But **both** still get to their destination."

Moana's expression softened, watching the boats in the water making paths around, over, and through. There wasn't one right way to navigate. 

"Thanks, Maui," Moana said sweetly. She smiled up at him as he put his hands on his hips and watched the canoes make paths in the water with her. 

"'Maui, shapeshifter, demi-god of the wind and sea, hero to all...and motivational speaker'?" he said, prompting a sly smirk from Moana as she crossed her arms. "What? You don't think that rolls off the tongue?"


End file.
